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The African nation of Gabon has had human inhabitants for perhaps 400,000 years. Bantu peoples settled here from the 11th century. The coastline first became known to Europeans through Portuguese and Dutch sailors. Colonised by the French in the 19th century, Gabon became independent in 1960.
| History of Gabon |
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-400 000 years: shaped stones found near Otoumbi in the middle of the country, attest to inhabitation beginning in this period.
-12 000 years: axes and arrow heads dating to this period are found in Moyen-Ogooué province and in the southern part of the country.
-8 000 years: rock drawings dating to this period found near Cap Lopez.
-5 000: The first pygmies people the territory of the current Gabon.
Iron Age: iron metallurgy in Gabon, attested to by traces found in several sites.
11th century: Bantu migrations, coming from the north. Little by little the Bantu begin to outnumber the pygmies.
1472: Portuguese sailors are the first Europeans to enter the Komo estuary.
1480: the Portuguese navigator Fernan Vaz explores the lagoon which today is named for him in the south of the Ogooué delta.
1600: the Dutch build a small fort on the island of Corisco, destroyed shortly thereafter by the Mpongwè.
1609: shipwreck of the Mauritius, a ship of the Dutch East India Company, off Cape Lopez.
1698: Dutch sailors destroy several Mpongwé villages in the Gabon estuary.
1722: the pirate captain Bartholomew Roberts is killed by the English navy off Cape Lopez.
1839: the Mpongwe chief Denis Rapontchombo authorizes the French to settle on the left bank of the Komo estuary.
1841: the "king" Louis Dowe in turn authorises the French to settle the right bank of the estuary.
1843: construction of Fort-d'Aumale, first permanent French settlement on the Komo estuary. [1]
1849: Louis-Édouard Bouët-Willaumetz founds Libreville and settles slaves freed from a slave transport there.
1862: treaty establishing French sovereignty over Cap Lopez.
1873: Alfred Marche and the marquis Victor de Compiègne try to follow the course of the Ogooué upstream.
1875–1878: first expedition of Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza in the Ogooué basin.
1886: Gabon becomes a French colony.
1889: the Woermann company exports the first okoumé to Hamburg.
1896: Awandji took the Lastourville outpost and kill the French administrator.
1898: The concessionary companies are allocated vast territories which they put in regulated sections.
1899: André Raponda-Walker is the first Gabonese ordained as a priest.
1899: concession system spreads across all of Gabon. [1] Almost the entire country allocated to French logging companies [2]
1900: determination of the border between Gabon and Spanish Guinea.
1900: death in captivity, in Gabon, of Samory Touré.
1903–1908: Mitsogo revolt against French implantation in Ngounié.
1908: pacification of Haut-Ivindo by capitain Fabiani. who founds the Makokou outpost.
1911: France cedes Woleu-Ntem to Germany, which attaches it to Cameroon.
1911: surrender of the Bakaya chief, Maruvulu, after several years of guerilla warfare.
1913: Albert Schweitzer founds a hospital in Lambaréné.
1913: the Mitsogo chief Mbombé dies in prison at Mouila.
1914–1915: fighting in Woleu-Ntem between Senegalese sharpshooters and German troops from the Cameroon. Collapse of okoumé market, which had primarily been exported to Germany. Gabonese forced to harvest rubber or palm kernels to pay head tax, men also forcibly recruited to serve as porters in military campaigns. [3]
1922: the administrator Montespan signs a peace treaty with Chief Wongo, halting the guerilla actions of the Awandji.
1925: Haut-Ogooué is attached to Moyen-Congo.
1929: the surrender of chief Wongo ends the uprising of the Awandji of l'Ogooué-Lolo.
1933: Léon Mba is exiled in Oubangui-Chari.
1940: the colony of Gabon rallies to the Free French (France libre) after several battles between Vichyste and Gaullistes.
1946: Jean-Hilaire Aubame, founder of the Union Démocratique et Sociale du Gabon, is the first Gabonese elected to the French National Assembly.
1946: Haut-Ogooué is definitively attached to Gabon.
1946: Abolition of forced labor [1]
1956: Léon Mba is elected mayor of Libreville.
1956: first oil wells, at Ozouri, by the la Société des Pétroles d'Afrique Équatoriale, the future Elf-Gabon.
1958: Gabon becomes an autonomous state within the framework of the Communauté française.
1960: the Republic of Gabon becomes an independent state.
1961: Léon Mba is elected president of the Republic.
1962: COMILOG (Compagnie Minière de l'Ogooué) begins mining manganese.
1964: attempted military coup d'état against Léon Mba fails due to French military intervention.
1967: death of Léon Mba. Albert-Bernard Bongo succeeds him as president of the Republic.
1968: president Bongo installs a single-party régime.
1970: the first buildings open at the university of Libreville.
1971: assassination in Libreville of opposition politician Germain Mba by two mercenaries. [4]
1973: Albert-Bernard Bongo converts to Islam and becomes Omar Bongo. [5]
1975: Gabon becomes a member of OPEC.
1976: construction of the omnisport stadium in Libreville, which hosts the first Central African Games.
1977: assassination of the Gabonese poet Ndouna Depenaud. [5] [6]
1977: Omar Bongo initiates a series of infrastructure projects in Libreville.
1977: creation of the state-owned compagny Air Gabon.
1977: summit meeting of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) in Libreville.
1978: the Gabonese government expels thousands of nationals of Benin.
1981: founding of MORENA (MOuvement de REdressement NAtional), unsanctioned opposition party.
1981: Gabon expels several thousand nationals of Cameroon.
1981: Omar Bongo is received by Ronald Reagan in Washington.
1982: official visit of pope Pope John Paul II to Gabon. [7]
1983: official visit of François Mitterrand, president of the French republic.
1983: creation in Libreville of the CICIBA (Centre International des CIvilisations BAntoues, International Center of Bantu Civilizations).
1985: capital execution of captain Alexandre Mandja Ngokouta in Libreville.
1986: inauguration of the Libreville-Franceville railway line (le Transgabonais).
1990: after a period of political unrest, re-establishment of multipartisme.
1990: French military intervention at Port-Gentil and at Libreville to evacuate foreign nationals (opération Requin).
1993: presidential election; Omar Bongo wins beating father Paul Mba Abessole.
1994: devaluation of the CFA franc triggers a price increase for imported goods and a drop in the buying power of the Gabonese. Also logging increases and concessions greatly expanded. [2]
1994: Gabon leaves OPEC.
1995: Gabonese police expel thousands of undocumented foreigners ("sans-papiers").
1996: le père Paul Mba Abessole est élu maire de Libreville.
1996: an epidemic of Ebola kills several dozen people in Ogooué-Ivindo (Mayibout village).
1997: Omar Bongo supports the return to power of Denis Sassou-Nguesso in Congo-Brazzaville.
1998: re-election of Omar Bongo to the presidency.
2001: Omar Bongo, Denis Sassou-Nguesso et Idriss Déby lose the lawsuit they initiated in French courts against the writer François-Xavier Verschave for "offense to a foreign head of state".
2002: Paul Mba Abessole becomes minister of human rights of president Bongo.
2005: unsurprising reelection of Omar Bongo Ondimba to the presidency.
2006: liquidation of the state compagny Air Gabon, which had been struggling for years with financial difficulties.
2007: creation of the private company Gabon Airlines.
2009: death of Omar Bongo 7 June.
2009: election of Ali Bongo Ondimba, minister of defense et son of Omar Bongo Ondimba (30 August).
2013: liquidation of Gabon Airlines.
Gabon, officially the Gabonese Republic, is a country on the Atlantic coast of Central Africa, on the equator, bordered by Equatorial Guinea to the northwest, Cameroon to the north, the Republic of the Congo on the east and south, and the Gulf of Guinea to the west. It has an area of 270,000 square kilometres (100,000 sq mi) and a population of 2.3 million. There are coastal plains, mountains, and a savanna in the east. Libreville is the country's capital and the largest city.
Little is known of the history of Gabon before European contact. Bantu migrants settled the area beginning in the 14th century. Portuguese explorers and traders arrived in the area in the late 15th century. The coast subsequently became a center of the transatlantic slave trade with European slave traders arriving to the region in the 16th century. In 1839 and 1841, France established a protectorate over the coast. In 1849, captives released from a captured slave ship founded Libreville. In 1862–1887, France expanded its control including the interior of the state, and took full sovereignty. In 1910 Gabon became part of French Equatorial Africa and in 1960, Gabon became independent.
The politics of Gabon takes place in a framework of a republic whereby the president of Gabon is head of state and in effect, also the head of government, since he appoints the prime minister and his cabinet. The government is divided into three branches: the executive headed by the prime minister, the legislative that is formed by the two chambers of parliament, and the judicial branch. The judicial branch is technically independent and equal to the two other branches, although in practice, since its judges are appointed by the president, it is beholden to the same president. Since independence the party system is dominated by the conservative Gabonese Democratic Party.
Libreville is the capital and largest city of Gabon. Occupying 65 square kilometres (25 sq mi) in the northwestern province of Estuaire, Libreville is a port on the Komo River, near the Gulf of Guinea. As of the 2013 census, its population was 703,904.
Omar Bongo Ondimba was a Gabonese politician who was the second president of Gabon for almost 42 years, from 1967 until his death in 2009. Bongo was promoted to key positions as a young official under Gabon's first President Léon M'ba in the 1960s, before being elected vice-president in his own right in 1966. In 1967, he succeeded M'ba to become the country's second president, upon the latter's death.
Jean-François Ntoutoume Emane is a Gabonese politician who was Prime Minister of Gabon from 23 January 1999 to 20 January 2006. He was Mayor of Libreville, the capital, from 2008 to 2014.
Paul Mba Abessole is a Gabonese politician who heads the National Woodcutters' Rally – Rally for Gabon and was a leading opponent of President Omar Bongo during the 1990s. He stood as a presidential candidate twice during the 1990s and also served as Mayor of Libreville, the capital. From 2002 to 2009 he served in the government of Gabon, holding the rank of Deputy Prime Minister for most of that period.
Articles related to Gabon include:
Ali Bongo Ondimba, also known as Ali Bongo and Ali Ben Bongo, is a Gabonese former politician who was the third president of Gabon from 2009 to 2023. He is a member of the Gabonese Democratic Party. He is the son of Omar Bongo, who was president of Gabon from 1967 until his death in 2009. During his father's presidency, he was Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1989 to 1991, represented Bongoville as a deputy in the National Assembly from 1991 to 1999, and was the Minister of Defense from 1999 to 2009. After his father's death, he won the 2009 Gabonese presidential election. He was reelected in 2016, in elections marred by numerous irregularities, arrests, human rights violations, and post-election protests and violence.
Jean Eyeghé Ndong is a Gabonese politician. He was the Prime Minister of Gabon from January 20, 2006 to July 17, 2009. He was also the First Vice-president of the Gabonese Democratic Party (PDG) until 2009.
The provinces of Gabon are divided into forty-nine departments. The departments are listed below, by province :
André Mba Obame was a Gabonese politician. After serving as an adviser to President Omar Bongo in the 1980s, he was a minister in the government of Gabon from 1990 to 1991 and again from 1997 to 2009; during that time, he was identified with the reformist wing of the ruling Gabonese Democratic Party (PDG). He held the key post of Minister of the Interior from 2006 to 2009 and then briefly served as Minister of the Coordination and Follow-up of Government Action in mid-2009. He was an independent candidate in the 30 August 2009 presidential election and placed third with 25.33% of the vote, according to official results, but he claimed victory and alleged that the PDG candidate, Ali Bongo, won through fraud.
Jules-Aristide Bourdes-Ogouliguende was a Gabonese politician who was the President of the Congress for Democracy and Justice (CDJ), an opposition party. He served as a minister in the government of Gabon from 1976 to 1990 and was President of the National Assembly from 1990 to 1993; from 1993 until his death in 2018.
Early presidential elections were held in Gabon on 30 August 2009. They took place due to the death of incumbent President Omar Bongo on 8 June, after more than 41 years as the sole president of Gabon. While the constitution stated that interim President Rose Francine Rogombé should organise elections within 30 to 45 days, the Constitutional Court accepted the government's request for a delay due to the circumstances.
Pierre-Claver Zeng Ebome was a Gabonese politician and musician. He held a succession of ministerial portfolios in the government of Gabon during the 1990s and subsequently served as a Deputy in the National Assembly of Gabon. Zeng Ebome was the President of the African Development Movement (MAD), a minor political party, until February 2010, when it merged itself into the National Union; afterward he was briefly a Vice-President of the National Union from February 2010 to May 2010.
Paul Biyoghé Mba is a Gabonese politician who was Prime Minister of Gabon from July 2009 to February 2012. A member of the Gabonese Democratic Party (PDG), he served for years as a minister in the government prior to his appointment as Prime Minister. From 2012 to 2015, he was President of the Economic and Social Council of Gabon, and he has again served in the government as First Deputy Prime Minister for Health since 2015.
As of 2011, Gabon contains 152 Cantons, 52 Communes, 29 Arrondissements, and 26 Districts. These are the third-level administrative units of Gabon and between them make up the units of the Departments of Gabon. Arrondissements tend to be units of major cities such as Libreville and communes are generally seated in the main cities and towns and incorporating the surrounding rural area. The cantons of Gabon are largely rural in nature with a small town or large village as the main centre.
Solange Mabignath is a Gabonese politician and administrator.
Julien Nkoghe Bekale is a Gabonese politician who served as the prime minister of Gabon from 2019 to 2020. In the aftermath of the 2019 Gabonese coup d'état attempt, he was appointed prime minister by president Ali Bongo Ondimba on 12 January 2019.
Oyem Solar Power Station, is a planned 50 megawatts (67,000 hp) solar power plant in Gabon. The power station is under development by Amea Power, a subsidiary of Al Nowais Investments (ANI), based in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Politik, Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft in Afrika südlich der Sahara
 Years in Gabon (1960–present) | |
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